CA1104339A - Railroad track monitoring and adjusting device - Google Patents

Railroad track monitoring and adjusting device

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Publication number
CA1104339A
CA1104339A CA317,251A CA317251A CA1104339A CA 1104339 A CA1104339 A CA 1104339A CA 317251 A CA317251 A CA 317251A CA 1104339 A CA1104339 A CA 1104339A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
track
value
points
chord
point
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA317,251A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Helmuth Von Beckmann
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Canron Corp
Original Assignee
Canron Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Canron Corp filed Critical Canron Corp
Priority to CA317,251A priority Critical patent/CA1104339A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1104339A publication Critical patent/CA1104339A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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  • Machines For Laying And Maintaining Railways (AREA)
  • Train Traffic Observation, Control, And Security (AREA)
  • Length Measuring Devices With Unspecified Measuring Means (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A track aligning device for monitoring the curvature of a track and adjusting the track successively to correct the curvature incorporates two taut wires mounted on a car or cars running on the track, the wires each defining two chords each extending between a pair of spaced points located on the track center line. Preferably the cords overlap. Each chord operates as a reference line which cooperates with a respective measuring device. A
first measuring device located nearer the rearward point of the first chord derives a voltage which is sampled at equal intervals, say 2 meters, as the aligning device passes along the track. The voltages are summed and averaged electrically and a voltage equivalent to the mean displacement of the track from the first chord is obtained. The second measuring device is located nearer the rearward point of the second chord and derives a voltage equivalent to the actual displacement at that position of the track with respect to the second chord. This voltage is compared electrically with the mean voltage and an error voltage is derived and used to operate a servo-assisted aligning mechanism to adjust the track to the left or right as necessary. In a pre-ferred embodiment the device can also adjust the superelevation of the track to meet the necessary value as computed on the basis of track curvature and designed train speed.

Description

llQ4339 This invention relates to track alignment devices and, more particu-larly, to track alignment devices utilising a "chord system" to obtain track alignment error and correct track alignment.
It has previously been proposed in Russian patent 471,413 which was granted on May 25, 1~75 to Turovskiy et al, to use a wire stretched between forward and rearward stations of a track alignment device, the wire serving as a chord of a curved section of the track over which the alignment device is passing to establish a datum or reference line. A first measuring device located relatively near the forward station cooperates with the wire to measure the distance of the track at successive points from the reference line. A predetermined number of measurements are obtained and averaged. A
second measuring device located relatively near the rearward station cooper-ates with the wire to measure successively the distance from the reference line of the track at a point immediately forwardly of the already corrected track portion. The actual value obtained is compared with the mean value obtained from the first measuring device and an error signal generated if - there is a difference. The error signal causes an alignment mechanism to shift the track in a direction left or right and by an amount to remove or reduce the error.
This prior system suffers from the disadvantage that the length of the chord is limited physically by the practical problems associated with supporting the wire on rail cars. This places a practical limitation on the precision of the measurements because the longer the chord the more precise the measurements.
Another disadvantage of the prior system is that because the first measuring device is located near the forward end of the wire the~ if the forward end of the wire is on a badly misaligned point on the track, a large deviation from a "true" displacement from the reference will ~e present in 33~
the reading obtain~d.
The present invention comprises an apparatus for reducing railroad track position errors comprising a first measuring system having a leading point and a trailing point and means for establishing a reference line be-tween said points; a measuring means located between said points adapted to measure track position values relative to said reference line; means to move said first measuring system over a section of track so as to measure a series of said track position values at a series of points extending over the section of track; means to store the series of track position values and to average them; a track correcting means attached to and trailing said ~irst measuring system; an independent track location sensing system for said track correct-ing means, which location sensing system includes a leading point and a trail-ing point and means for establishing a second reference line between the lead-ing and trailing points; sensor means located between said leading and ~rail-ing of the second reference line, for sensing a track location value relative to said second reference line; comparator means connected to said means to store and average the track position values and to said sensor means to com-pare said average position value with said location value and provide a posi-tion error value; and means connected to said comparator means for applying said position error value to control the operation of the track position correcting means to reduce an existing track position error.
In a preferred configuration the first reference line is a chord extending between the leading and trailing points of the first measuring system and the second reference line is a chord extending between the lead-ing and trailing points of the track location sensing system. The chords may overlap each other.
The present invention further comprises a method of reducing rail-road track position errors comprising the steps of passing a measuring system llQ4;}39 over a section of the track, the measuring system having a first reference line extending between a first leading point and a first trailing point on the track, and measuring track position values relative to the measuring system at a first series of points throughout the section; automatically summing and averaging the measured position values to obtain an average position value; passing track correcting means equipped with a track location sensing system independent of the measuring system through the same section of track, the track location sensing system having a second reference line extending between a second leading point and a second trailing point on the track, obtaining a track location value from the track location sensing system at at least one location on the section, comparing the track location value with the average position value to ob~ain a position error value and applying the position error value to control the operation of track position correcting means at the at least one location to reduce an existing track position error.
In a described embodiment, the step of re-measuring a track position value after the operation of the track position correcting means and resumming and re-averaging the track position values to obtain a new average position value is taken.
In the drawing which illustrates an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is shown in diagrammatic form.
An apparatus for calculating the track position error and realigning railway track is shown generally at 1. A first measuring system comprises leading and trailing points 2, 3 being conveniently located on rail engaging buggies forming a frame 20 and means to move the frame and buggies over the track, each point being located at the track center line. Between the points
2, 3, a chord 4 is formed which is conveniently merely a 20 meter long wire pulled taut between the two points. A measuring device 5 of any suitable ,-' f ' -3-, 4~3~

design is located at a predetermined point between points 2, 3 for obtaining the distance of the chord from the track at the predetermined point. Con-veniently, the measuring device is a fork which engages the wire and pivots to the right or left relative to a frame mounted indicator thereby giving the : -3a-1~4;~39 amount of deviation between the track and chor~. The frame mowlted indicator is, suitably, a rotary differential transformer which derives an analog volt-age dependent on the deviation. The measuring device 5 is operated in con-junction with a distance measuring apparatus shown schematically at 15 such that at convenient increments, for example every two meters, a contact is closed to sample the analog voltage on the transformer.
An averaging apparatus 12 receives the analog voltages sampled.
The averaging apparatus 12 is designed to receive the analog voltages sampled at ten consecutive points, sum them and obtain a mean track pGSitiOn value over the twenty meter distance travelled. The apparatus 12 may conveniently include an analog to digital converter, the digital values being subsequently summed and divided by the number of samples. It should be understood that as the apparatus traverses the track continuously the first of the ten samples is dropped and a new sample is added to the remaining nine and in this way a running average is obtained every 2 meters.
A second measuring system comprises leading and trailing points 9,10 also conveniently located at the track center line on rail engaging buggies forming a second frame. Associated with the second frame and stretched be-tween the points 9,10 is a second 20 meter long taut wire forming a second chord or reference line 8 and a second measuring device 14 which operates in a manner identical to that of measuring device 5 and obtains the track dis-tance from chord 8 at successive points.
Comparator 6, well known in the art, is provided which utilises as two inputs, respectively, the mean track distance calculated by averager 12 and the track distance "y" obtained by the second measuring device 14. The magnitude of the voltage output from ~he comparator 6 depends on the differ-ence between the mean track distance and the track distance "y".
The error output voltage from comparator 6 is forwarded to track 11(~4~

correcting means 7 which can be any suitable device for shifting track later-ally as is known in the art~ e.g. ~ s~rvo valve 7a controlling hydraulic jack 7B. The track correcting means 7 thereby realigns the track in accordance with the magnitude and sign of the error signal from comparator 6 is a sense to reduce or remove the error.
In an arrangement which has proved very satisfactory, the measuring devices 5 and 14 were located 4 meters from the rear points 3 and 9 of their respective chords and the chords were overlappcd such that the point 3 of the first chord was a~jacent the midpoint of the second chord and the poin~ 10 of the second chord was adjacent the mid point of the first chord. The overlap-ping of the chords conveniently reduces the overall length of the apparatus but there is a limit to the overlapping as excessive overlapping would tend to reduce the accuracy of the results. This is because the ten sample read-ings obtained by the first measuring device are normally obtained over the ten meters immediately preceding and the ten meters immediately following the particular point being measured by device 14 so that half of the samples upon which the mean value is obtained are taken on a portion of the track which has subsequently been corrected. Thus, the distance between the measur-ing devices 5 and 14 determines the maximum distance over which the samples can be taken.
Because of the overlapping chords it is possible to incorporate a feedback provision into the averager 12 by arranging that the sensing device 14 and track correcting means 7 are located at point 3, i.e. the trailing end of the first chord. Thus, the trailing end 3 of chord 4 is continuously moved to a corrected position on the track as the track correcting device 7 - operates. The corrected point 3 represents a more exact reference point than uncorrected point 3 and so any value measured by measuring device 5 when chord 4 terminates at the corrected point 3 is, obviously, more accurate.

ilG~

The system can, therefore be arranged to derive measurements from measuring device 5 while the point 3 is on the corrected portion of the track, i.e.
immediately after operation of the track correcting device, these being the values which are stored and sampled.
As an additional feature of the invention it is possible to incor-porate a device for measuring the superelevation of the track. According to the A.R.A. standard, the superelevation of a railroad track "x" is given by the formula E = .0007 V D where.
E = th0 superelevation in inches, V = the proposed train speed in miles per hour, and D = the curvature of the track in degrees measured as the angle subtended by the radii from a 100 foot chord.
The device includes a comparator 11 to which is fed an output from the averager 12 which output is obviously related to the track curvature D.
The second input to the comparator 11 originates by the provision of a track speed adjuster 18. If the proposed train speed V, for example, is 60 miles/hr., this value is simply selected on the track speed adjuster whereby it is fed to the comparator 11.
The third input to the comparator 11 is derived from a pendulum sensor 13 which is carried by the apparatus on the track center line near the sensing device 14. The sensor 13 is well known in the art and derives an analog voltage the magnitude and sign of which depends on by how much the elevation of the outer rail of the curve differs from the inner rail.
The comparator 11 compares this superelevation with .0007 ~2D and any resultant signal denotes the magnitude of the track superelevation error.
This signal commands a servo valve 16a to operate a hydraulic lift-ing jack 16b or 16c depending on which rail has to be lifted.
3;~

It should be understood that the voltages passed to the first two inputs of the comparator have to be matched to the voltage produced by the pendulum and, thus, constants based on the parameters of the pendulum must be used to process the voltages on the first two inputs. This is preferably done in the comparator.

Claims (15)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. An apparatus for reducing railroad track position errors comprising a first measuring system having a leading point and a trailing point and means for establishing a reference line between said points; a measuring means located between said points adapted to measure track position values relative to said reference line; means to move said first measuring system over a section of track so as to measure a series of said track position values at a series of points extending over the section of track; means to store the series of track position values and to average them; a track cor-recting means attached to and trailing said first measuring system; an independent track location sensing system for said track correcting means, which location sensing system includes a leading point and a trailing point and means for establishing a second reference line between the leading and trailing points; sensor means located between said leading and trailing of the second reference line, for sensing a track location value relative to said second reference line; comparator means connected to said means to store and average the track position values and to said sensor means to compare said average position value with said location value and provide a position error value; and means connected to said comparator means for apply-ing said position error value to control the operation of the track position correcting means to reduce an existing track position error.
2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first reference line is a chord extending between the leading and trailing points of the first measuring system and in which the second reference line is a chord extending between the leading and trailing points of the track location sensing system.
3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the chords overlap each other.
4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 in which the measuring means is positioned remote from the leading and trailing points of the first chord and the sensor means is positioned remote from the leading and trailing points of the second chord.
5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which the trailing point of the first chord is located adjacent the track position correcting means.
6. A method of reducing railroad track position errors comprising the steps of passing a measuring system over a section of the track, the measuring system having a first reference line extending between a first leading point and a first trailing point on the track, and measuring track position values relative to the measuring system at a first series of points throughout the section; automatically summing and averaging the measured position values to obtain an average position value; passing track correcting means equipped with a track location sensing system independent of the measuring system through the same section of track, the track location sensing system having a second reference line extending between a second leading point and a second trailing point on the track, obtaining a track location value from the track location sensing system at at least one location on the section, comparing the track location value with the average position value to obtain a position error value and applying the position error value to control the operation of track position correcting means at the at least one location to reduce an existing track position error.
7. A method as claimed in claim 5 in which the first reference line is a first chord extending between the first leading point and the first trail-ing point and the step of measuring track position values relative to the measuring system comprises measuring the lateral distance of the track from the first chord by means of a first measuring device forming part of the measuring system; and the second reference line is a second chord extending between the second leading point and the second trailing point and the step of obtaining a track location value comprises measuring the lateral distance of the track from the second chord by means of a second measuring device forming part of the track location sensing system.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7 in which the chords overlap each other.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8 in which the first trailing point is located adjacent the track position correcting means.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9 which also comprises the step of re-measuring a track position value after the operation of the track position correcting means and re-summing and re-averaging the track position values to obtain a new average position value.
11. A method as claimed in claim 9 in which a running average position value is obtained by progressively dropping off the value obtained by the measuring system at a first sequential one of the first series of points and adding on a new value at a successive point.
12. A method as claimed in claim 9 in which the location at which the track location value is obtained is midway between the first and last points of the first series of points.
13. A method as claimed in claim 11 in which a track location value is obtained from the track location sensing system at a second series of points on the section and the location value at each of these points is compared with the running average position value.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the first series of points and the second series of points coincide.
15. A method as claimed in claim 6, 7 or 13 in which the track correct-ing means is passed over the track section immediately subsequently to the passing of the measuring system.
CA317,251A 1978-12-01 1978-12-01 Railroad track monitoring and adjusting device Expired CA1104339A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA317,251A CA1104339A (en) 1978-12-01 1978-12-01 Railroad track monitoring and adjusting device

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA317,251A CA1104339A (en) 1978-12-01 1978-12-01 Railroad track monitoring and adjusting device

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1104339A true CA1104339A (en) 1981-07-07

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA317,251A Expired CA1104339A (en) 1978-12-01 1978-12-01 Railroad track monitoring and adjusting device

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CA (1) CA1104339A (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112033316A (en) * 2020-07-20 2020-12-04 深圳市埃伯瑞科技有限公司 Track waveform determining method and device, electronic equipment and storage medium

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112033316A (en) * 2020-07-20 2020-12-04 深圳市埃伯瑞科技有限公司 Track waveform determining method and device, electronic equipment and storage medium
CN112033316B (en) * 2020-07-20 2022-07-22 深圳市埃伯瑞科技有限公司 Track waveform determining method and device, electronic equipment and storage medium

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